Emerald Castle
*Zelena |visitors = Dorothy Gale *Flying Monkeys *Glinda *Hades † *Robin Hood † *Scarecrow *Stanum *Toto |inmates = Toto |employees = Oz Guards |firstappearance = It's Not Easy Being Green |latestappearance = Chosen}} The Emerald Castle"Where Bluebirds Fly", Once Upon a Time, ABC. is a location featured on ABC's Once Upon a Time. It first appears in the sixteenth episode of the third season. The Emerald Castle is based on the Royal Palace of Oz from the novel, The Wonderful Wizard of Oz. History Walsh's transformation into a flying monkey alerts Glinda, the Witch of the South, to Zelena's presence. Glinda thanks Zelena for exposing him and believes time as Zelena's pet is a fitting punishment for his trickery. Glinda asks Zelena to join her in Oz's sisterhood of witches. After Zelena accepts, she uses the magic of the floor to view Regina having another lesson with Rumplestiltskin. This time, she manages to let go of her anger and envy and remarks, "Sorry, sis. But I'm over you." Glinda tells her that she is impressed, having known she'd make the right choice. Together, they look into the mirror as Zelena's complexion returns to normal. Glinda then gives Zelena a special pendant to harness her powers. Later, the two of them find a girl, Dorothy, who arrives in Oz by cyclone. Fearing this child is destined to take her place, Zelena's skin begins reverting to green. After Zelena fakes her own death, Glinda mistakenly believes that Zelena's magic is undone, and thus the Wizard has returned. Glinda takes Dorothy to see the Wizard in the palace so that Dorothy can find a way to go home to Kansas. Zelena masquerades as the Wizard to send Dorothy home before revealing herself to Glinda, who vows to find another sorceress to take Zelena's place, but Zelena banishes her to Fairy Tale Land. With the Wizard under her control and Glinda trapped in Fairy Tale Land, Zelena takes dominion over the Emerald City and its guards. After settling a green birthday cupcake on a platter, Zelena uses magic on a mirror to see the moment her mother abandoned her. Intending to prove that Cora deserted the wrong daughter, she moves forward with creating a time travel spell, by procuring one of the spell ingredients: the Scarecrow's brain. Before she can rip out the brain, Dorothy storms the palace to stop her. Zelena prepares to finish her with a fireball, however, she fails to notice Dorothy's dog Toto wandering around the room. Zelena tosses the fireball at Dorothy, who ducks, with the flame incinerating a guard instead. Toto then pulls at a wall string, making the curtains topple onto Zelena, giving Dorothy time to flee with her dog and the Scarecrow. When Zelena returns to the palace later, Hades is there. He mistakes the green cupcake for Zelena celebrating her own birthday, but she coldly refutes this, stating she doesn't know her birthdate because her mother abandoned her. Hades offers assistance with the Scarecrow and he tells her about his own rivalry with his older brother, Zeus. Later, Zelena finds that Hades has prepared a celebratory banquet for her at the palace. Hades professes that he wants to be with Zelena, and his belief that a kiss of true love between them can restart his non-beating heart. Zelena rejects him, suspecting he wants the time spell for himself since only one of them can use it. Believing no one can love her, she reasons that if he does love her, he won't stand in the way of her revenge. With a tone of finality, she sends him away, warning him to never show his face again. As Zelena is having a meal in her palace, she becomes annoyed by the food's lack of flavor and orders one of her guards to pass her the salt. Suddenly, another guard reports that a man has arrived asking for her help. Zelena scoffs at this, recalling she already banished the Wizard of Oz ages ago yet people still come to the palace expecting assistance. When the man comes in, he reminds her of how he once held a bird's nest, which helps her recognize him as her old friend Stanum. He explains incurring the fury of the Wicked Witch of the North after he chopped down one of her trees and his punishment from her is to slowly turn into a tin man. Stanum requests Zelena's help with obtaining the Crimson Heart from a beast that can stop the curse from taking full effect on him. Zelena is briefly amused by the prospect of him as a tin man but ultimately sees no value out of helping him since she doesn't get anything out of the deal. Stanum suggests she can aid him in order to do good with her magic as she did in the past, however, Zelena brushes off the idea, believing using magic to be wicked is much more fun. Only when Stanum calls her out for turning him down because she's afraid of the beast, Zelena agrees to aid him in order to prove she is not only powerful but not afraid of anything. After the journey, Zelena returns to her palace, where she sets down the Crimson Heart on the table after leaving Stanum to become a tin man instead of giving up her powers to save him. She has a moment of satisfaction as she sits down before doubt clouds her face. One day, while Zelena is away from her chambers, Robin of Locksley, on Rumplestiltskin's orders, attempts to steal some of the Elixir of the Wounded Heart. Disguised as one of Zelena's guards, Robin manages to fill two vials, but he drops one of the vials after she catches him trespassing. When she questions his actions, Robin salutes and greets her, unaware that her guards know better than to talk to her. Even more suspicious now, Zelena demands to know why he is stealing from her. With his cover blown, Robin grabs an enchanted bow from the room to fire at her. However, she duplicates two more illusions of herself to confuse him. As Zelena realizes he must have been sent by Rumplestiltskin, and he continues to not respond to her accusation, she dissipates the illusions and hurls a fireball at him. Robin dodges the attack, letting his arrow fire as he does, causing the shaft to fly around the room until it hits a steam engine. With the room completely fogged up, Zelena clears herself from the steam in time only to see the man is nowhere in sight and presumably escaped. After Zelena spies on Rumplestiltskin urging Regina to break Snow White's singing spell to prove he chose the right witch as his disciple, she breaks out into song about the pain she's endured from both Cora and Rumplestiltskin himself rejecting her in favor of her sister, however, she sees this as her one chance to prove she is better than Regina. Zelena takes a ride on her broomstick before returning to her palace, where she brews a spell in a green box that will allow Regina to absorb Snow and Charming's singing abilities. }} }} Trivia |-|Set Notes= Props Notes *Zelena's mirror,File:516LookingAtTheMirror.png which she uses to look into the past and look into other worlds, is the same prop used for the mirror in Rumplestiltskin's castle in "It's Not Easy Being Green".File:316GreenDearie.png The same prop is used for one of the mirrors in the World Behind the Mirror in "I'll Be Your Mirror". It is best seen in the shot where Regina says, "There is no way out", where the mirror can be seen behind her.File:608NoWayOut.png *The icing on Zelena's birthday cupcake is green,File:516GreenCake.png as are the candles Hades uses for their dinner.File:516Dinner.png *The magical music box that Zelena conjures has the same green/gold color scheme as the throne room of the Emerald Castle. The lid is emblazoned with a star motif, just like the floor in the throne room.Music box: File:620HerHappyEnding.png Emerald Castle: File:620TheWrongOne.png Set Dressing *According to the poster in his workroom, Walsh's circus is called The Omaha Circus and Freak Show.File:316No.png In the novel, Omaha is the name of the Wizard's birthplace. The circus and freak show acts listed are "The sorcerer's black tent", the Feejee mermaid,File:316LooksAtPoster.png the Bottle Imp ("living human head confined in a glass bottle"), the Dog Faced Boy,File:316Transformation.png the bearded lady and the flying monkeys. According to a painting, one of the circus acts is archery with an enchanted bow.File:417TalkToMe.png **The Feejee mermaid was an object comprising the torso and head of a juvenile monkey sewn to the back half of a fish. During the 1800s, it was a common feature of sideshows, where it was presented as a version of a mermaid. **Jo-Jo the Dog-Faced Boy was a famous Russian sideshow performer during the 1800s, who suffered from the medical condition hypertrichosis. **Bearded ladies (women with visible beards) have a rich history in the sideshows of the 19th and early 20th centuries. **"The Bottle Imp" is an 1891 short story by Robert Louis Stevenson, in which the protagonist buys a bottle with an imp inside that grants wishes. However, the bottle is cursed; if the holder dies bearing it, their soul is forfeit to hell. *The text "Wales" is inscribed on one of the artifacts in Walsh's workshop.File:320ByWater.png Interestingly, the name "Walsh" means "Welshman". *A box in the Wizard's workshop say "New York".File:516StoppedMyHeart.png *A lamp in Zelena's quartersFile:516EverythingHeEverWanted.png also sits on a table in the clock tower in "The Black Fairy".File:619YouMustKnow.png *The table cloth and candle on Zelena's dinner table are green, as is her drink.File:618Food.png File:618Ugh.png Costume Notes *The uniforms worn by the guards of the Emerald CastleFile:316ZelenaEnters.png are inspired by the design created by Adrian Greenburg for the winged monkeys in The Wizard of Oz. |-|Other Notes= Filming Locations *The scenes in the Emerald Castle are filmed on a blue-screen set at The Bridge Studios. Appearances Note: "Archive" denotes archive footage. References }} fr:Palais d'Émeraude ru:Изумрудный замок Category:Locations Category:Once Upon a Time Locations